Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/31847 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
Papers on Economics and Evolution No. 0713
Publisher: 
Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
This paper incorporates aspects of humans' evolved cognition into a formal model of cultural evolution and scrutinizes their interactions with population-level processes. It is shown how the biased transmission of different kinds of behavior via cultural learning processes influences agents' consumption behavior. Thereby, the model's learning dynamics are capable of generating typical Veblenian consumption dynamics. Based on these insights, the paper then scrutinizes on the role of humans' biological heritage and Darwinian concepts in the development of economic theories in general. Moreover, the relation of the ontological basis of biological and cultural evolution is addressed.
Subjects: 
Conspicuous consumption
Economic theory development
Evolutionary economics
Darwinism
Cultural evolution
JEL: 
B41
B52
A12
D11
C60
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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